20-ton attack drone under development in Russia

Russian Sukhoi T-50 stealth fighters perform during August's MAKS-2013 air show in Zhukovsky, outside Moscow, on August 27, 2013. Sukhoi says it's working on a 20-ton drone that will be based on the T-50 design.Kirill Kudryavtsev

Russia is developing a new 20-ton attack drone that may be used to carry out strikes on stationary and moving targets over land and sea, according to news reports.

Sukhoi, a Russian aircraft manufacturer, is building the massive drone, whose prototype could be ready by 2018, reported Pravda, a political Russian newspaper based in Moscow. The specific capabilities of the new vehicles have not been discussed publicly, but are expected to rival similar American attack drones.

"From the point of view of theory, engineering and design ideas, we are not in the last place in the world," Vladimir Anokhin, vice president of the Russian Academy of Geopolitical Issues, told Pravda in this translated quote.

"We have wonderful teams that have spent decades working on this," he said. "But we do not have enough hands. We do not have the industrial base, we do not have skilled workers who could produce a massive amount of those drones that we need so much now."

Until now, drone development had been largely neglected in Russia, said Denis Fedutinov, a Russian expert on unmanned systems.

"Currently, the Ministry of Defense of Russia is working to remedy this situation by initiating and funding a program to create a range of [drones] of different types and class," Fedutinov told Pravda.

The U.S. military uses drones to collect surveillance and to carry out attacks. Recently, U.S. and Japanese officials finalized an agreement to allow American drones to fly out of Japan to spy on North Korea.